Local News

Members of the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover ChemCam team, including Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists, squeezed in a little extra target practice after zapping the first fist-sized rock that was placed in the laser’s crosshairs last weekend.

Much to the delight of the scientific team, the laser instrument has fired nearly 500 shots so far that have produced strong, clear data about the composition of the Martian surface.

“The spectrum we have received back from Curiosity is as good as anything we looked at on Earth,” said Los Alamos National Laboratory planetary scientist Roger Wiens, Principal Investigator of the ChemCam Team. “The entire MSL team was very excited about this and we popped a little champagne.”

The United Church of Los Alamos, 2525 Canyon Road, is undergoing renovations that will cost $2.4 million.

Work is being done to most of the campus, including the Christian Education Building, sanctuary, thrift shop and parking lots. Currently, the education building is having an elevator and atrium installed.

“We had a successful campaign earlier this year that has allowed us to proceed with this renovation project ($2.4 million project),” said David Elton of the United Church of Los Alamos. “This began with a visioning group that met in 2009. It was determined that The United Church needed to improve accessibility to our buildings. However, it grew into a larger project to also enhance facilities and unify the entire campus. The theme for the project is “Building A Way for Everyone.” Along with providing improved accessibility for members and friends, we wanted to also improve our facilities for the many groups and organizations who meet here each week, including Canyoncito Montessori.”

Elton said schedules are being juggled but there should be no disruption to weekly services, children and youth programs, classes and other meetings.

The National Weather Service said a strong weather system is expected to bring heavy thunderstorms to western New Mexico and flash flooding is possible.

The system is moving into the state after hammering much of Arizona early Thursday. It is expected to reach the state Thursday afternoon and bring the heaviest rain to western parts of the state. Up to three inches of rain could fall per hour from some of the heaviest storm cells.

A flash flood watch has been issued for most areas west of the Rio Grande Valley and the mountains of Lincoln County. Such warnings mean flooding is possible but not imminent. Los Alamos County and the Jemez Mountains are under such a warning.

Areas below forests burned in recent fires are most prone to major flooding. Drivers should avoid washes and arroyos when storms are nearby.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The wife of the late Johnny Tapia says the six-time world boxing champion's death was related to heart problems and not because of a drug overdose.

Teresa Tapia said Wednesday that an autopsy report showed that Tapia died from heart disease and hypertension, and that no traces of illegal drugs were found in his system.

Tapia shared the newly released autopsy report with reporters at a press conference at the later boxer's Albuquerque gym.

Investigators found one Hydrocodone tablet, a painkiller, on the floor beside his body. They said there were no indicators of an overdose or alcohol use, but that he likely developed medical complications from past illegal drug use.

Tapia says her husband was taking medication for his bipolar disorder.

The meeting was in response to Monday’s accidental natural gas leak that occurred when construction crews working on the school’s renovation inadvertently damaged a gas pipe that supplied the school’s cafeteria and some of the school’s hot water systems.

Though the meeting was not open to the public, Schmidt commented on what they hope to get from the meeting.

“We take safety very seriously and we will hold McCarthy very closely to the plans they are developing so we don’t have a repeat of this accident,” said Schmidt.

Ron Zucher, a project manager for McCarthy, the contractor in charge of the school’s renovation provided an update.

“Right now we are testing the entire system that we recently installed,” Zucher said.

We did a safety stand down yesterday to discuss what’s happened in the past few days so that we learn from our lesson and we don’t keep repeating the same problem.”